


Pick Up Line

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: Short but Sometimes Sweet: Damerey Collection [20]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dad!Poe, F/M, Fluff, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Modern AU, One Shot, Rey has a Rule, Teacher AU, prompt, sheer fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-23 01:31:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15595266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: While it's historically never been her favorite duty, kindergarten teacher Rey Kenobi looks forward to after school pick-up these days. It's all because there's a good chance she'll see a certain ridiculously attractive man as he picks up his daughter. But when her attraction becomes mutual flirtation, Rey has to remind herself of one, important rule:Don't date the parents.





	Pick Up Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beccaboom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beccaboom/gifts).



> Flufffluffluff

The final bell rang for dismissal at 2:45, and Rey led her last group of kindergartners through the door. She spun around as she did the head count, “…three, four, five… _Armitage_! Stop pulling on Jessie’s pigtails.”

“Sorry, Ms. Kenobi,” the ginger hellion smiled at her, his front tooth missing, and Rey snorted, patting him on the back as he walked past her, his light-up sneakers staying on the red, painted line towards the front doors.

“Don’t say sorry to me, say sorry to Jessie, darling.” Before she followed them down the hall, she shot a look of absolutely exhausted affection at her co-teacher, a gruff but kind ESL specialist. Luke smirked at her and began to sweep up the carpet in front of the smartboard.

She walked behind her class, the six little ducklings who were going to be picked up by their parents, and she adjusted her ponytail until she could feel it swishing back and forth with each step. She looked at her outfit and then cringed – why should it matter that she had playdough stuck to her lanyard? Her fingernail scratched at it idly as she walked into the hectic cafeteria, her sweet ones going to their assigned table to wait for sign-out.

The gym teacher, Ackbar, was barking numbers down the line, and parents signed his clipboard before grabbing their children’s hand and leading them out towards the parking lot. It used to be a lot less efficient, but in the months since Ackbar had taken over for Holdo, the somewhat flight art teacher, it had become almost poetry.

Rey’s students soon were collected, and she gave Armitage Hux II one last hug before he sprinted away, his exhausted father and namesake dragging after him. She shook her head and collected her first aid bag, slinging it over her shoulders, and then, right as she prepared to walk out of the cafeteria, she saw _him._

 _Why do I have to be wearing overalls?_ Rey wailed internally. _Why did I think pink, corduroy overalls were an appropriate choice of outfit for a twenty-four year old woman?_ He hadn’t been at pick-up the last two days, his tiny second-grader taking the bus instead, but – here he was.

The girl’s name was Paige – she’d first heard it in the art room at the beginning of the year, when the beautiful, curly-haired girl was complimented by Holdo for her neat, colored-pencil drawing of Abe Lincoln – and _his_ name was Poe. But Mr-Hot-And-Off-Limits was a perfectly fine name, as far as Rey was concerned.

They’d fallen into a dangerous flirtation for the last month, ever since he’d come stumbling in after three p.m., when she was signing her last student out. He’d apologized profusely to Paige and Paige’s teacher for being about three minutes late (no one had even minded, Paige was such a sweet girl, and three minutes was barely anything. Rey would be thrilled if afternoon snack finished only three minutes off schedule).

He’d caught Rey’s eye after the last two students had both been signed out – Jessie heading out the doors with her mom, and Paige drifting off to ask Ackbar if they were going to do soccer next week, too.

_“Hey there,” he’d said, smiling at her in a way that was simply unfair. “I’m Poe.”_

_“Rey Kenobi,” she answered, extending her hand. “Kindergarten teacher.”_

_“That’s amazing,” he beamed. “Loved kindergarten.”_

_“It’s a great age,” Rey agreed. She smiled at Paige, who was so much taller than all of her own students, so much more sophisticated. “But second grade is nice, too.”_

_“Huh?” He blinked, and turned to see what Rey was looking at. “Y-yeah. Second grade. Good. Cool. I liked second grade, too.”_

He was a little odd, and he always seemed infinitely more charming with everyone else – but he often stammered around her, which she found a little (entirely) endearing, and very dangerous. Because Rey had A Rule.

And today, in her crappy pink overalls, with playdough smeared god knew where on her person – she really didn’t want to test her loyalty to that rule.

But Poe smiled at her, her steps slowed down, and he tugged on his earlobe while Paige prattled on about something to her classmate.

“Hey, Ms. Kenobi,” he looked incredibly nervous. _Don’t look nervous,_ Rey pleaded.  _If you're nervous that means you have something to be nervous about._

“Hello, Poe.” She smiled at Pagie over his shoulder. “And hey to Paige too, when she turns around.”

Poe huffed a laugh and fiddled with the rolled up sleeves of his button down. Which drew Rey’s attention to his forearms. His tan, muscular forearms. _Damnit._ “Look, Ms. Kenobi, I’ve been thinking…”

“Oh?” Rey said, when he trailed off and didn’t continue.

“Yeah,” he cleared his throat and looked up at her, his large brown eyes squinting somewhat as he finished his thought. “I was wondering – uh – what you were doing this weekend?”

“Oh.” Rey blinked, and tried not to focus on how nice the scruff on his jaw looked. He didn’t wear a wedding ring on his hand, so she didn’t think this was awful in the worst possible way, but – “I’m sorry, Poe, I just – I can’t…Besides, I don’t really date.” It definitely wasn’t a lie. She didn’t. On Fridays, she usually crawled into bed with a vat of microwavable mac n’ cheese and a five dollar bottle of wine, and she passed out at seven p.m. with _Friends_ reruns playing in the background.

“You can’t?” Poe repeated weakly, and God, Rey hated this.

She’d love to say yes, she really would – but she had A Rule.

And that Rule was: Do. Not. Date. Parents.

_Two weeks ago, she’d overheard him on the phone as he paced outside the doors. Paige had after-school sports, something he seemed to have forgotten, and he’d decided to just wait for four o’clock instead of turning around and going home._

_“I’m telling you!” He was grinning, and he spotted Rey ten feet away. He stood still and waved at her cheerfully before continuing. “My son is a **prince.** He eats all his vegetables. Never seen anything like it.” The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be doubtful, because Poe resumed pacing, loudly saying, “No, dad, I’m telling you, it’s amazing what he can do.”_

_Her heart had warmed at the way Poe spoke so fondly about his son, but it served as quite literally a double reminder that he was very much Off Limits._

Across from her, Poe looked uncomfortable, and she regretted having to say no. “Sorry,” Rey whispered. “I just – I don’t date parents.”

“You don’t…” Poe’s eyes were confused, and maybe still a little hurt from her initial rejection, and Rey nodded, feeling tears prick at her own eyes from the agony of upsetting him.

Thank the Sweet Lord that Principal Solo chose that moment to come on the PA, his gruff voice commanding, “Rey Kenobi, please report to my office. Thank you.”

“I have a meeting,” Rey remembered. She grabbed Poe’s arm, and noted not for the first time, the silver chain that he always wore (and she’d seen the wedding ring on the end of it a few weeks ago – her first guess being that he was a widower). “I’m so, so sorry Poe. I’d love to say yes, really I would, but—”

He opened his mouth to say something, but then Paige appeared at his side and tugged on his hand. He redirected his confused gaze down at his daughter. “Can we get Tropical Smoothie on the way home? Please?”

“Uh—” Rey walked as quickly as she could for the doors before Poe answered Paige.

“Jesus,” she whispered into the silent hallway. The newly-painted mural of the Rainbow Fish twinkled judgmentally at her, and she pointed a threatening finger at it before going to Han’s office for their meeting with a new student.

***

The next day at parent pick-up, she tried not to look towards the second-grade section of the cafeteria. But her eyes still tracked Paige sprinting happily for a pretty, Asian woman, who scooped her up and covered her face with kisses. Rey smiled despite her nervousness; when Kaydie Connix, Paige’s teacher, waved Rey over, she muttered a prayer before complying.

“Do you need any help with your costumes tomorrow night?” Kaydie’s question kicked Rey’s anxiety over the Poe-awkwardness straight to the curb.

Rey groaned at the reminder and shook her head. “No. But I’ll be so relieved when this musical is over.”

“Aw, I can’t wait for tomorrow!” Paige grinned up at Rey, who had no choice but to return the expression. “I’m gonna be a Gouda.”

“Wow! That’s a big part,” Rey said admiringly. “Are your parents coming to the musical?” She smiled at the woman who was obviously Paige’s mother.

“Yes! I’ll be there, and my husband too.”

“I’m so glad you can make it, Mrs. Tico,” Kaydie was saying, but Rey’s ears were blocked by a sudden roaring noise. _Husband?_

_Poe – he wouldn’t –_

“Husband?” Rey said. To herself. Out loud. Because of course.

“Yes,” the woman – Rose – smiled oddly at her. “Finn wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

 _Oh, Jesus Christ –_ “I’m sorry,” Rey said, blinking rapidly. “I thought you meant – um - Poe?” _Why are you still talking? WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING?_ “Sorry, we’ve spoken a few times, and I just figured—”

“We’re all friends, it’s fine.” Rose waved an airy hand. “And Poe will be there too.”

Rey was so buried by her embarrassment that she missed Rose’s wink. “That’s good,” She squeaked. “Excuse me.”

She didn’t even look at that stupid Rainbow Fish mural on her sprint to her classroom. Damn, all-seeing, judgey fish. It must have known she’d voted for the Giving Tree in the staff-wide survey.

***

The next day, Rey didn’t have to bother with parent pick-up. All her sweeties stayed after school to watch _Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs_ in the gym with all the students in K-2 _._ They ate pizza at 5:00, and were preparing to go onstage at 6:00.

Her kindergartners were performing a musical about space and stars – Luke had written most of it, shockingly, and it had lines translated into some of their students’ native languages. A lot of them were already screaming in excitement about which aunties and cousins and grandpas were showing up for their big event, and Rey popped an Excedrin to prepare for the next hour and a half.

When it was time to go on, Luke settled at the piano and waved his hands at Rey, who rolled her eyes, adjusted her sparkly silver dress, covered in sewed on gold stars, and marched to the microphone. She proudly announced her class to the fairly large gathering, led the applause before she dove to the side of the stage, and sat back to watch her angels perform.

Armitage Hux II managed to get through all his lines of introduction, his British accent making his mispronunciations of words like _galaxy_ and _astronaut_ that much more adorable. Most of the students remembered their cues, although there was a bit of an alarming run-in between Jupiter and Pluto, and Rey watched through her fingers when nervous, shy Cassie lisped into the mic about the importance of funding organizations like NASA (Rey had poked Luke at the obvious political bent of that line, and he had just shrugged innocently).

Eventually, they meandered to the end of their musical with the stunning conclusion, “A Galaxy Far, Far Away,” and as the last note was croaked from the throats of her sweet but tone-deaf students, the auditorium erupted in applause. Rey walked back out to take photos with the students, gesturing at Luke to join them (he did, begrudgingly). And then they were off stage, to make room for the first grade team to set up.

Her students’ parents lined the hallway to collect their babies and either watch the rest of the musical acts or go home, and she hugged each of her kids before they left her care for the evening. She sighed in relief and sagged against the wall – Luke had trotted off to buy a Pepsi or something – and closed her eyes.

“Nice dress,” a warm, familiar voice commented. “One might say it’s…stellar.”

“You been working on that one for the last twenty-seven minutes, pal?” Rey cracked an eye open and smiled genuinely at the sight of Poe, who looked nervous again. That was fair,: she did reject him the last time they’d spoken.

“You know it.” He leaned against the wall and smiled at her. “So, Rose said you asked about me.” Rey winced and turned to mirror his body language. “Awkwardly.”

“In my defense,” Rey began. “…it was _very_ awkward.”

It made him laugh, and she really did enjoy the sound. Maybe she should consider bending her rule… _no. Rules exist for a reason._

On-stage, the first grade was screeching through a song about cowboys and friendship (somehow a metaphor was made, Rey didn’t quite follow), but the hallway was quiet, other than the echo of the performance. “Your daughter’s on next,” Rey said, to fill the silence, and to remind herself of reality.

“My—” Poe blinked and stood up straight. “I don’t have a daughter.”

Rey stood up as well. “Um.” She knew her mouth was gaping open, but she couldn’t help it. “You – you don’t – but – Paige?” Not her most coherent effort.

Poe shook his head quickly, and she tried not to look at how it made his curls toss about. “N-no – she’s – Paige is Rose and Finn’s daughter. I’m just – I got back from the Middle East two months ago, and I hurt my back, so I’m not supposed to be working – Finn and Rose both have 9-5 jobs, so - I just pick her up from school.” He scuffed his feet against the linoleum and frowned. “So I can do something useful.”

“Hey.” Rey grabbed his arm, and he looked up, looking sadder than she’d ever seen him. She wasn’t sure what to say in regards to his last statement, so she just leaned into her own incredulity. “But – you do have a son?”

“I do?” Poe gave her a weird look.

“Yes! I overheard you on the phone last week. It wasn’t creepy, or anything,” she protested in response to the ornery grin growing on his face. “You looked right at me when you said it – you said your son was eating his vegetables.”

He laughed for about ten seconds, running his – very nice – hands through his – incredibly nice – hair. “No! Oh my god, my dad’s going to give me so much crap for this – no, I was talking about BB, my dog. I call him my son because everyone always teases me about how much time we spend together.”

“Oh!” Rey knew her blush went from her hairline to her collarbone. “Oooooh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Poe smirked at her and stuck his hands in his pockets.

“This would have saved so much time,” Rey whispered to herself.

“Pardon?”

“I just…I turned you down the other day because I thought you were a parent.” Poe’s smile lessened somewhat at the mention of the rejection. “I – I really did mean I would have said yes otherwise, it wasn’t a line to get out of it. I was so bummed! You have no idea! I just have a rule about dating people whose kids go here.”

 “ _Shit_. No. Nope. No kids. Zero kids. Nada. I mean- uh – I like kids – so it uh- I’m not against kids – I just – don’t have any,” Poe spluttered through it, spots of color high in his cheeks, and Rey laughed.

“Well. Would you like to go on a date with me?” She asked, mostly to take him out of his misery.

Poe flopped against the wall. “I’d like nothing better.”

***

_Seven years later_

Rey rested her hand on her stomach, exhausted, her feet swollen. Parent pick-up couldn’t go fast enough.

“No running,” she reminded the pack of children who were still waiting for their parents to come pick them up. They nodded and slowed down, their game of tag much less effective now that sprinting was out of the question.

Someone sidled up to her and nudged her shoulder. Rey turned, smirking, to see Poe standing there.

“Hey.” He winked broadly at her, and she raised an eyebrow expectantly. “You’re really cute. We should go out sometime.”

“Yeah?” Rey narrowed her eyes at him.

“Yeah.” Poe reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with his left hand, a silver ring glinting on his fourth finger. “But I should warn you. I’m a parent.”

He hefted their sleeping two-year old son higher on his hip and grinned with his classic level of cockiness. Rey snorted and handed him the clipboard. “Sign for your kid and get out of my cafeteria, Dameron.”

Shara came flying towards them and jumped on her father’s leg, already babbling about what she’d seen today in Ms. Pava’s kindergarten class. Rey smiled fondly at her daughter and kissed her, her husband, and her son on the cheek before shooing them away.

“See you at dinner, Mrs. Dameron,” Poe called out as he opened the door for Shara. Ben continued to slumber, his curly hair a perfect match for his father’s.

Rey waved and then turned to separate a pair of siblings who’d decided to get into a slapfight over the last pack of fruit gummies. She groaned when she stood back up from her lecture, having chosen to kneel down at their level to impart wisdom on the joys of sharing (praying to herself that there was an even number of gummies in that damn package).

Her hand flew to her lower back as she gripped a lunch table for support, heaving to her feet. Her belly had reached an outrageous size, and she couldn’t wait to swap out her work pants for sweat pants, and for her husband to rub her feet in front of _Friends_ reruns.

She shook her head, smiling. She had a new rule: _Do Not Give Poe Dameron Any More Kids. No Matter How Cute He Is When He Asks._

Just as she finished the uncharitable thought, a powerful kick rebounded somewhere behind her ribcage. Rey patted her stomach wonderingly, a wave of undeniable love and affection washing over her. 

Okay. Maybe a few more.

**Author's Note:**

> happy(belated)birthday, beccaboom!


End file.
